B. H. Clendennen - One Nation Under God

released on LP sometime in the late 1960s or early 1970s

Today, the U.S.A. celebrates its birthday. How do the people of this great nation celebrate this holiday? It's by indulging on beef fat, casings in the shape of tubes containing parts of farm animals that are not suitable for most meals, and greasy potato chips with a helping of watered down beer followed by watching bombs blow up in the sky displaying bright colors and emitting loud booming sounds with the Russian tune "1812 Overture" playing in the background. Maybe some people watch a parade before or after indulging in the items I mentioned.

On this record, preacher B. H. Clendennen is worried about the future of America. He believes America is declining because people are disrespecting the American flag by burning it or using it as an armband or as something to blow one's nose or something like that. Not only are people burning the flag as an act of protest (which they do have a right to do), they are out marching in the streets protesting war. I was able to guess the period this message was recorded by Clendennen's references to Vietnam and the "blessed" president Richard Nixon. Clendennen seems about to get in a rage over the mere thought of doing anything to/with the American flag. I'm not sure if there is anything about the flag in the Bible. He is also upset that them dirty, long-haired hippies are protesting America sending troops to Vietnam when the future is at stake. Apparently North Vietnam was a big threat to take away America's freedoms. Clendennen still thought America could win in Vietnam supposedly by the power of prayer and the belief that the one being favors America.

Clendennen also believes that morals were declining and he thinks that "taking God out of the schools" was one of the primary causes. What is meant by "taking God out of the schools" is that the Supreme Court ruled in 1962 and 1963 that organized prayer or state-sponsored prayer and Bible readings were in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the Constitution. (It so happens that the youth of America could still pray in school if they like.) I guess that if the public schools cannot conduct religious indoctrination then the morals of the populace would decline and everyone would be questioning authority. By the way, in contrast to the mantra "question authority", Clendennen asks the listeners to pray for those in authority.

Have a wonderful 4th of July everyone, and try not to hurt yourself when playing with firecrackers.

Tracklisting:

Side One

1.  One Nation Under God part 1  {19:19}

Side Two

1.  One Nation Under God part 2  {14:41}

The first Honorary Basement Dweller is...

Just the other day, I heard an interview that I thought was the best interview I've ever heard in my life. It had just about everything: insight, philosophy, inspiration, dialogue about political matters, humor, discussions about relationships, partying, love, hate, and even a conversation about baseball. If you haven't already heard it, I promise this will be the best interview you've ever heard in your life.

Now if you're wondering about the post's title, yes, I am granting someone the honor of not only Honorary Basement Dweller, but the first ever Honorary Basement Dweller. I'll make it clear that just not anyone will be given the honor of Honorary Basement Dweller. You have to be someone special or have done something really special or both. The first recipient is both. Now on to announcing this individual. The first Honorary Basement Dweller is ....

His name is Carlos Estevez, but he is better known as Charlie Sheen. He is the son of Martin Sheen and the brother of Emilio Estevez. I'm sure most of you are familiar with the man from seeing him in movies and/or on TV. Just in case you've lived under the metaphorical rock, he's starred in such classic films as The Wraith, Major League, Hot Shots, Men at Work, among many others. He's also starred in TV sitcoms Spin City and Two and a Half Men. I use the past tense because as of this writing, apparently the producers of Two and a Half Men halted production and it appears that they don't want Charlie around anymore. You may also have seen him on TMZ or read about him in tabloid publications.

Charlie's career as an actor while trying to ride the coattails of his more talented father and talented brother is not the reason why I'm naming Charlie the first ever Honorary Basement Dweller. There are other reasons. I found out that Charlie is one amazing bitchin' dude from listening to his interview with Alex Jones, an expert on international politics and current events, a highly acclaimed documentary film maker, and one of Charlie's best pals. I learned that Charlie is a Vatican assassin. But this gets even better.

Charlie is winning. That's right. The man is addicted to winning. He was able to overcome his alcohol and drug addictions with the power of his mind. Charlie is the type of person we like here in the Basement and that is why he has been named the first ever Honorary Basement Dweller. He is a winner in life who possesses great ability to use the power of his mind. Wait, there's more.

Charlie lives life to the fullest. He lives life on his own terms, the way it should be. While he is trying to uncover evidence that the New World Order or the Illuminati was behind 9/11, he is out partying in such majestic places as the Bahamas with young beautiful actresses who often act in shall we say a certain type of low-budget independent movie. He also does great things for his family too. He said that he loves them violently while he hates anyone violently who would oppose his family. You better believe it when Charlie says he is like an F-18. Charlie provides plenty of philosophical thoughts into how to live life or I guess they can be called gnarly gnarlyisms.

Charlie cares about his gnarly friends and family. However, if you make enemies with Charlie, you better watch out. I'm sure that dude what's his name again who created Two and a Half Men and his third ex-wife Brooke are finding out that it's not much fun to be among Charlie's enemies. Shortly after the interview, a few haters named Sarah Silverman, Zooey Deschanel, John Stamos, and Denis Leary posted derogatory tweets on Twitter about Charlie. They're just some second-rate actresses and actors who are jealous that they don't get to party with Charlie and be among his gnarly friends to learn lots of stuff from him everyday. They're among the numerous trolls and fools who live loser lives just like that weirdo cult Alcoholics Anonymous. They're also probably pussies just like Thomas Jefferson. I'm not sure it really takes much stones to call the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence a pussy. Now if he has called George Washington a pussy, I would probably bow down to him just because he called George Washington a pussy. Knowing Charlie, I'm sure he'll do just that sometime in the near future.

Charlie Sheen is one awesome gnarly Vatican assassin winning bitchin' badass and the first ever Honorary Basement Dweller. Charlie, you and your beautiful powerful mind are always welcome to inhabit the Basement. Not only did he and Alex put on a great interview, Charlie probably also caused Two and a Half Men to be canceled which frees up 30 minutes of airtime for CBS to air a better show. That in itself is awesome. I'm sure that you have adequate Internet search skills to find his fantastic interview with Alex. However, I am offering the videos of Alex's interview with Charlie as downloads so you can listen to it over and over without using your Internet minutes (for those of you still stuck with limited Internet usage) or you can transfer the videos on your iPod or whatever mobile device you use and play them anytime anyplace. The reason I'm doing this is because everyone should hear this interview as it will change lives and make everyone more enlightened.

Tracklisting:  (links will be back soon)

1. Charlie Sheen Interview with Alex Jones (02-24-2011) part 1 {14:59}

2. Charlie Sheen Interview with Alex Jones (02-24-2011) part 2 {15:18}

3. Charlie Sheen Interview with Alex Jones (featuring Lenny Dykstra) part 3 (02-24-2011) {13:25}

Kenneth McFarland - Are We Raising the Red Flag Over Ourselves?

Kenneth McFarland - Are We Raising the Red Flag Over Ourselves?

LP probably released in 1963 (no date given); McFarland references having spent time at some hotel bar in New York during the Cuban Missle Crisis

What he means by the title of the LP is that he believes the United States of America could end up becoming a socialist/communist nation just like the Soviet Union because of many things including the enactment of the New Deal to help the United States recover from the Depression (i.e. creating jobs for the millions of unemployed people and to help restart the economy) and of something called progressive education. Basically, progressive education focuses on the individual abilities of the child or student and that each individual has his or her own learning style. A key component of progressive education is diversity.

Before Kenneth McFarland embarked on a career of public speaking in front of rich businesspeople and recording many records like this one, he was a superintendent of the Topeka, Kansas school system which was the school system in the Brown v. Board of Education case during Mr. McFarland's tenure. I guess I know why he's bitter towards progressive education. McFarland is also not happy that schools no longer post all the students' grades on all students' report cards. McFarland advocates that everybody should live life in competition everyday including children. I guess that it doesn't matter that students may or may not actually learn anything despite getting A's and B's. It's all about getting better grades than one's classmates. It's not really about measuring how well students are learning. I always thought that letter grades are kind of pointless anyway and I made mostly A's and B's.

McFarland advocates that people should succeed on their own, that is by competing against others. He thinks that those who are rich are the most successful and they should be treated better than anyone else. I guess that anyone born into a rich family is automatically a winner in life. He gripes that the rich pay more in taxes than anyone below them in the economic ladder. This is another way that the U.S. was supposedly headed towards becoming a socialist/communist country. The American way is competition and what he thinks of as "free enterprise" which really means no government regulation of business. McFarland is mistaking economic regulation by the government as control of industries.

On this record, McFarland speaks in front of a group of hospital and healthcare executives somewhere in southern California. It takes McFarland about 11 minutes to get into the topics mentioned already in this post. McFarland implies that the premier of the Soviet Union at the time, Nikita Krushchev, laughed in an evil way at the Americans are becoming a bunch of commies for progressive taxation and progressive education. Okay, Khrushchev didn't really laugh in an evil way at the U.S. (maybe he really did), but McFarland mentioned that Khrushchev said in a speech that the U.S. would someday raise the red flag (communism) over themselves. I can imagine McFarland boiling into some rage and his blood pressure rising at the mere thought of Khrushchev's speech and the fact that not every American shared McFarland's points of view on life. I'm sure everyone knows what happened after this LP was released. You can say that the opposite took place instead.


Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Are We Raising the Red Flag Over Ourselves? side 1 {27:32}

Side 2

1. Are We Raising the Red Flag Over Ourselves? side 2 part 1 {19:43}

2. Are We Raising the Red Flag Over Ourselves? side 2 part 2 {6:03}

Note: side 2 is broken into two parts because at one point the needle gets stuck in a groove; the stuck part lasted well over a minute and I had to gently nudge the needle forward

Cecil Todd - Wake Up America!

Cecil Todd - Wake Up America!

released on LP in 1975 or 1976

Like Jack Van Impe and his album in the last post, America in Prophecy, which was released around the same time as this LP, Cecil Todd is predicting doom and gloom for the USA. Unlike Van Impe, Cecil Todd does not mention anything about prophecy or hope in the end.

The album's cover and back cover says that this was recorded at a patriotic rally. Cecil preached at this rally about America's possible downfall because like 19 other nations or empires that once were mighty, America will fall because of all of the decadence that is taking place. Alcoholism, gambling, wife swapping, prostitution, and other similar enjoyable activities are increasing. Cecil emphatically claims that no one cares that these activities are on the rise. Also, Cecil tries to tie these in with illegal activities which he claims are increasing too. It sounds like the things that are legal to a degree (drinking, gambling, wife swapping) should be classified as illegal in the same group as murder and robbery.

Interestingly on side 1, Cecil does not blame these things on atheists, communists, or secular socialists. He hardly mentions them on side 1. On side 2, Cecil does talk about atheists. He says that they were successful in taking religious indoctrination out of taxpayer-funded public schools. At one point, he goes into a rant because Madalyn Murray O'Hair (perhaps the most notable atheist ever) was not too happy that some astronaut read from the Bible while in outer space. He points out that those commie nations and in general foreign nations won't cause America to fall, the downfall of America is coming from within (which I do seriously agree that the downfall of America will come from within). He thinks some people "want to take God out of America" and is afraid they'll succeed. Cecil never explicitly makes the connection between atheists and those fun things like gambling, drinking, promiscuous sex, but it seems to be implied I suppose.

Because of those immoral activities and atheism, Cecil says that America will lose its freedoms. I'm not sure how American freedom would be preserved by not allowing people to do things that could be interpreted as immoral but still legal or things that preachers don't like people to do. Is that what happens in other countries that do not have freedom where people are not allowed to do certain things or participate in activities because the rulers or governments say so? I'm not exactly getting the impression that Cecil Todd really understands the principles that make America a nice place to live (compared to most other countries) then again he is another guy that thinks that the founding fathers say that America is a Christian only nation.

The end of the album has a performance of Gospel music by The Gospel Lads.



Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Wake Up America! side 1 {16:31}

Side 2

1. Wake Up America! side 2 {16:43}

Jack Van Impe - America in Prophecy

Jack Van Impe - America in Prophecy

released on LP

The first share on this blog was an album by Jack Van Impe. I thought it would be fitting if year #4 of the Basement starts out with something by Jack Van Impe.

On this album released probably in 1976 (notably America's bicentennial year), Jack tries to make the case that America was predicted as a political Babylon in the Bible although America is not explicitly mentioned (just as Hilton Sutton claimed that the Bible predicted important biblical events involving America). Back then, things were not so great. According to Jack, there was a rise in crimes, drug use, gambling, pornography and other immoral behavior and a decline in moral values. Naturally, the blame was placed on folks such as athiests, intellectuals, the public school system for no longer teaching religion including the Christian version of the creation story, those who create and implement sex education classes in schools, anyone who is pro-choice, anyone who accepts evolution as fact, homosexuals, and just about anyone else who doesn't agree with Jack's line of thought. Most of the time, Jack talks about how these people allegedly have contributed to America's decline.

Then comes the part that America is supposed to be in decline after all because it's predicted in the Bible. That's what Jack says. The state of the world is awful, but instead of trying to come up with ways to make the world a better place, all one has to do is wait for the Rapture. It could happen any moment now where a lot of people will be magically transported from this world full of problems to Heaven. I guess it was already supposed to happen in the 1970s if Jack's sermon is any indication. It's 2011, 35 years later, things are still not so great and still no Rapture. But it still could occur, right. I guess we have to be patient.

When the Rapture does take place, that is when the Antichrist will start to take over America and the rest of the world and rule with an iron fist for seven years. Then Christ is supposed to come back by defeating the Antichrist and his evil forces. Afterwards, the world that we know will become a blissful wonderful place free of problems such as robberies, gambling, drug use, sex education classes, etc. and likely free of those intellectuals, secular socialists, Darwinists (i.e. those who accept evolution), homos, and other undesirables. So does anyone who was raptured get to come back to Earth when Christ returns? America sounds like a depressing place to be when one listens to Jack's sermon. It sounds worse than it actually was (or is). Yet, Jack tries to be reassuring that if you're a good person, you won't have to be around when shit gets worse. Thanks Jack for another moment of terror and comfort at the same time.


Tracklisting:

Side One

1. America in Prophecy side one {24:33}

Side Two

1. America in Prophecy side two {23:50}

Willard Cantelon - The New World Money System

Willard Cantelon - The New World Money System

A couple of years ago, I posted an LP by Willard Cantelon where he spoke about the evils of LSD. On this LP, Mr. Cantelon warns us about the supposedly impending "new world money system." According to Cantelon, there is a plot by groups of powerful wealthy individuals to introduce not only a one-world government, but a single currency to be used everywhere in the world. No doubt life would be easier for a one-world government to have only one currency. No pesky exchange rates to worry about.

So how does Cantelon know about the one-world conspiracy? It's in the Bible. More specifically, it's in the Book of Revelations. The Bible predicted sinister groups such as the IMF, the World Bank, and the UN will take over the world and the Anti-Christ may or may not be running the show. Thank goodness Cantelon knows how to derive what the Bible is saying as lots of people including myself never would have figured out the meaning in the text. Not only did Cantelon consult the Bible, he also attended important monetary conventions and talked to some financial experts and leaders.

Cantelon answers the following questions that are posed on the back cover:

1) Why will a New World Money System definitely be introduced?

2) When will this New System be established?

3) What will be the fate of our present currencies?

4) What will be the nature of the New System?

5) How can one prepare NOW to avoid the great losses and dangers ahead?

6) How can one read future developments?


Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. The New World Money System {20:10}

Side 2

1. The New World Money System continued {23:17}

Christian Citizen - Dynamics of Democracy

Christian Citizen - Dynamics of Democracy

Copies of this LP were distributed to members of the Christian Citizen organization whose purpose was to train believers how to be politicians and "foster Christian principles in the nation's [United States] government and to combat 'an increasing sense of futility and apathy in America'" according to an article in the magazine Commentary.*

This LP demonstrates the organization's principles of training "principled" wannabe politicians to work at the precinct and county levels and to run for political office at those levels. Working on these lower levels is supposed to be a work your way from the bottom to top strategy in getting people to the ranks of national office (e.g. Congress). The liner notes explain in more detail the purpose of this LP:

DYNAMICS OF DEMOCRACY, Volume One emphasizes clearly that Christians must involve themselves in the political life of the country if the full impact of their God-given principles and influences for good is to be felt. If politics has become a dirty business, it is because Christian people have side-stepped their responsibilities. Freedom is a religious, not a political principle, and to be protected and preserved in a political atmosphere, freedom must have religious men for champions. The record is an exciting attempt to stimulate interest and shock sleepy imaginations into action. It assumes, of course, that some knowledge of the Christian Citizen study course program is held by the listener. And if not, the record is designed to prod the listener into full participation in the educational activities of Christian Citizen. It is not meant to be heard in solitude. It has been planned for group use in private homes, clubs, and other organizations. It supplements the regular Christian Citizen program which reaches into the grassroots of American life bringing back to citizens an awareness of their American heritage in its Christian perspective and teaching them the ways and means by which they may involve themselves in political life and become effective leaders in the local precinct and national convention.

I'm guessing that Christian Citizen's activities served as a blueprint studied by the Moral Majority, the Christian Coalition and the modern extreme-right Republican party.

*The link only leads to an abstract of the article as one has to be either a subscriber or to buy the article to have access to the article. The abstract gives a little more information about Christian Citizen.

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Dynamics of Democracy {23:23}

Side 2

1. Dynamics of Democracy {23:16}